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| CRANKY OLD FART'S BROWSER HISTORY #387 [archive] NOV. 28, 2023 |
Living in between the cracks of mainstream society
by Ace Backwords
Yeah, I could live like that — sleep sitting on a toilet overnight, and then out by morning...
Journalist and Kansas cop-accountability activist sue after being banned from homeless encampment
Police state stuff.
Without admitting it, Sports Illustrated published articles by fake, AI-generated writers
Journalism without ethics.
Research links climate change to vampire bat expansion and rabies virus spillover
What a grand place America's going to be, as the billionaire-backed climate catastrophe rolls on and on.
After 151 years, Popular Science will no longer offer a magazine
Excerpt: … Layoffs have impacted journalists on the science beat particularly hard in recent weeks. National Geographic cut the remainder of the magazine’s editorial staff in June, followed by Gizmodo laying off its last climate reporter, and CNBC shuttering its climate desk last week.
Me again: Anyone remember PopSci? I used to subscribe, and it was good readin' every month. I assume it's turned to utter shit, like most everything else, or it would still be profitable.
Rolling Stone spied on Trump’s ‘Southern White House’ from their couches
Excerpt: We managed to spy on a sitting president in his own home from the comfort of our couches just by messing around with the free version of a single data broker’s web app. Now imagine what a dedicated forensic team could do, working 24/7, with access to the full paid services of every commercial data broker, in addition to all of the other data sources out there, from high-tech hacking to old-fashioned surveillance. It’s one of those cases where reality is actually worse than the stories told in dystopian sci-fi and superhero movies.
That’s why, if we’re ever going to get out of this mess, preserving individual privacy and the conditions for functional democracy, we all need to start thinking about technology the same way we think about supervillains. When Congress writes new laws, when big tech companies introduce new tools to the market, and when businesses and consumers invite new apps and gadgets into their homes and workplaces, it’s not enough just to take tech at face value. A data broker is never just a marketing service and a shitty poker app is never just a game. They’re cracks in the foundation of our society, and they can be exploited to tear it apart.
Antisemites supporting Israel is weird. Jewish support of them is even weirder.
Spotify will end service in Uruguay due to bill requiring fair pay for artists
Why is Uruguay the only country willing to do the right thing?
Like the US itself, the SS United States is a scavenged, empty remnant of what it was
Mayor of Paris quits Twitter, calling it a 'gigantic global sewer'
Are you still on Twitter? Then you're a schmuck.
Excerpt: ... But public health experts have expressed shock at the policy reversal, saying it could cost up to 5,000 lives a year, and be particularly detrimental to Māori, who have higher smoking rates.
Me again: Seriously, what are 5,000 dead people annually, compared to the joy of cutting taxes?
Conservatives are boycotting Froot Loops
Prediction: Kellogg will back down, stop the 'diversity' book program. Hell, maybe they'll mute the colors of the cereal to white and white.
Always remember: Corporations have no concept of right or wrong, only profit and loss. They'll greenwash and gaywash if it makes more money, but if it starts costing them money they'll stop cold.
• Amusing, Interesting, Outrageous, or Profound
AIOP is my Lemmy page, for anything that's (in my opinion) amusing, interesting, outrageous, or profound. It's mostly a rough draft of this page, but you're invited to stop by.
♫♬ MUSIC ♫
From God's Perspective — Bo Burnham
Listen to Reason — Bryan Steeksma
Purple Zone — Soft Cell with Pet Shop Boys
⚰️ OBITUARIES ⚰️
Larry Fink
photographer
Herbert Gold
author, Not Dead Yet
Catherine Christer Hennix
math musician, "The Electric Harpsichord"
Geoffrey Holt
mobile home groundskeeper
Marty Kroft
producer and puppeteer, H.R. Pufnstuf
Sun Lin
human rights activist
Solomon Littman
Nazi hunter
Les Maguire
rocker, Gerry and the Pacemakers
Weston Ochse
sci-fi author, May Blood Pave My Way Home
Johnny Scott
civil rights activist
Priit Vesilind
journalist, National Geographic
John Warnock
co-inventor of the Portable Document Format (PDF)
And here's one more name that popped up in my quest for the dead: Gordon Cohon, "founder of McDonald's Canada."
What does that even mean? McDonald's was founded by Dick & Maurice McDonald in 1937. Ray Krok bought the rights to the name, streamlined the factory-style service, and became a billionaire. Gordon Cohon didn't do didlyshit — he was born rich, spotted a profitable business, bought into it, and drowned Canada in the same burgers and grease as America.
Your dead cocker spaniel deserves an obituary more than Gordy Cohon does.
11/28/2023
Cranky Old Fart is annoyed and complains and very occasionally offers a kindness, along with anything off the internet that's made me smile or snarl. All opinions fresh from my ass. Top illustration by Jeff Meyer. Click any image to enlarge. Comments & conversations invited.
Tip 'o the hat to the AVA, BoingBoing, Breakfast at Ralf's, Chuff, Dirty Blonde Mind, It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time, Lemmy.world, Looking for My Perfect Sandwich, Miss Miriam's Mirror, Self-love Is My Superpower, Voenix Rising, and anywhere else I've stolen links, illustrations, or inspiration.
Special thanks to Linden Arden, Becky Jo, Wynn Bruce, Joey Jo Jo emeritus, Jeff Meyer, John the Basket, Dave S, Name Withheld, and always extra special thanks to my lovely late Stephanie, who gave me 21 years and proved that the world isn't always shitty.
Tay Zonday, the "Chocolate Rain" guy?
ReplyDeleteAlso, teh same Herbert Gold who wrote The Man Who Was Not With It? Good book.
I didn't still don't understand the Chocolate Rain question, but I googled it like a good kid and added a new song to my playlist. Kinda perfect. Never heard it before, or heard of it, so grazi.
DeleteAnd yessir I believe it's the same and one and only Herbert Gold.
Neither the Republicans nor the Neoliberals aka 90+ percent of Office holding Democrats have the slightest interest in helping anyone, only taking bribes and reinforcing their party’s power.
ReplyDeleteThis nation is over. Reaganomics saw to that and Citizens United dashed the last of the faintest of rational hopes for self-repair. This is just leftover momentum. This labor camp we call the US will eventually collapse under the weight of its own corruption, but until then, we suffer generationally with zero recourse.
Crank up the rage a little higher please. With health care only for the full-time employed, how many people is our government killing today? With the bloated military training our future killers and the Republicans doing nothing about present killers, anyone not shot yet is ahead on the odds. On and on I could type until midnight, but the nationwide worldwide situation is despair and as you said, with no recourse.
DeleteThis fucked-up country has been run by Republicans let's get real since FDR. Even the best of the Demoicrats Kennedy or Crater never attempted to actually run the nation by left wing policies because they were never left wing politicians, just mildly liberal Republicans.
DeleteTen years before Clinton, Clinton would've been a moderate Republican. 25 years before Obama, Obama too. Other than AOC and the few who surround her, I see little hope for anything but more of the same in the Democratic Party. They will resolutely do nothing to help me, that's for certain, or to fight climate change, roll back killer-police, make health care accessible, tax billionaires, regulate capitalism, etc, and both Dems and Reps are always on board for the next war.
Delete"Living in Between the Cracks:" Very interesting piece, wish it were a lot longer. He's not sleeping on the toilet (as you implied) but probably on the floor, with padding and a sleeping bag. May that situation last for a long time, for him! It could change at any moment.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, the article didn't specify that. I just assumed he'd sleep on the toilet, with a blanket or sleeping bag over him. Sleeping on the floor in the john seems kinda icky, and I always sleep in my recliner, sometimes not even tilted back.
DeleteHate it when I have to get up to pee, so that's part of the appeal. No getting up, just pee and go back to sleep.
Hmmm. But yeah, sleeping on the toilet wouldn't be comfy on my butt. Wonder if I could find or make a toilet-seat-shaped pillow?